I traded voicemails with yet another company, this one through Houzz, who turned out to be pretty interesting. A new company with young guys who want to make a name (but have years of experience as builders) - I told the guy all the peculiarities of the job, and was specific about not having a lot of money and just wanting these three things - windows, insulation and interior walls - done quick and dirty. He asked if the crew could maybe stay in the place to cut time off of long commutes out there and back, and said it would only take a few days to knock these projects out. They want to come by Monday morning, which is when I’ll still be there with my friend. They seem pretty keen. I called this morning to confirm and they’re still planning on coming out. Will they actually show up? Who knows. Will they actually submit a bid? Who knows. I figure getting this project done is a lot like internet dating - there’s going to be tons of ghosting until I find “the one”. If these guys turn out to be yet another disappointment, I just have to get back on that horse and keep trying. But for now, I’m hopeful. The guy that didn’t show up seemed kind of out of it and flaky - reminded me a lot of the guy that ripped us off, actually. These guys are, once again, all about servicing the Airbnb market (not us, obviously) and trying to build up their portfolio so are willing to take on these kind of things. I figure if, miracle of miracles, it works out with this place, I’ll ask if they can rent a port-o-potty for their time there so they don’t use our outhouse, and when I go to give them keys I’ll pack up the few things we have in there - beds, cooking stuff, lanterns - and put them in the container, so I’ll be less weirded out at the prospect of strangers sleeping in our place. If they’re saying it will only take days, it can’t cost that much…right? Well, we’ll see what happens on Monday. Either they’ll show or they won’t and either they’ll write something up for me or they won’t. Until that happens I will keep this to myself. I’m not up for a big confrontation with the H until there’s a valid plan going forward. All of my striving may result in nothing but him going out and doing it all himself anyway. Either way I’m very much looking forward to going out this weekend, being joined by my friend, and having another stellar desert weekend while the weather is good.
Last night Bobby was involved in a school program for the 5th graders in which students had worked in groups to write short plays, and then parents (professional actors, being as we’re in LA and all) acted them out. I got dressed up and the three of us went over to the school at 5 PM with the intention of being there for maybe an hour. Omg this thing stretched on for two hours and that was only until we guiltily snuck out at intermission. I had to bring Theo because I didn’t want him at home alone, and he was climbing the walls the whole time, as were all of the other younger siblings dragged along, not knowing what they were getting into. About an hour into it the audience started to get restless and loud, and we couldn’t even hear most of the plays because there were no microphones. Oh, it was miserable. Were the plays any good? Well, imagine for a minute sitting through ten plays written by ten- and eleven-year-olds. It was cute and fun for about twenty minutes…then…oy. So we made our escape and I frantically threw some dinners together and had the boys shower and cram through their homework. Funnily enough, an email thread today among the people in charge said it was a huge success and that they had concerns that it was too long but their kids told them it should have been longer. Ummm…no. All of the parents I was sitting with were checking their watches and repeatedly asking, “how many more of these are there? We have to go!” I seriously hope if they do this again that they at least split it up over two nights or something. I still feel a bit like we all ran a marathon last night.
Today I got word that the hotel, despite what they had reassured me, will no longer be able to add rooms to my block, and I only have 1-5 rooms left each night. I open in two weeks. This was my worst fear, having to open for ticket sales and simultaneously tell everyone there’s nowhere for them to stay. I swore I would never do an overflow hotel again after I was burned by it in 2017, but I don’t think at this moment that I have a choice. There may be a way to set it up so that I have no liability, though. So it could all work out with some grumbling but not a huge amount of grumbling. I’m going to play it by ear and see how many people ask about rooms over the next week or so.
Here’s me and Theo in happier times (before the plays started)
No comments:
Post a Comment